


When the Mountain Falls

by JadeFlicker



Series: One Piece 20 Years At Sea [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Battle, Future Fic, Gen, Marines, Me Wishing, Pirates, Really Late Entry, Reunions, Saving the Day, Tumblr: 20yearsatsea, War, day 5: epic moments, surprise, working together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 11:26:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11966394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeFlicker/pseuds/JadeFlicker
Summary: When backed into a corner, they chose to make a stand.





	When the Mountain Falls

**Author's Note:**

> First off, thank you so much to everyone who kudo-ed or commented. You guys are so kind and I really appreciate the love shown for the fic and/or the support some of shown to me. Here's an invisible cookie (and hopefully a good fic). Again, thank you so, so much.
> 
> Okay, so fifth contribution to the One Piece 20 Years At Sea anniversary event, though this is so late that it's depressing. I'm...getting there at my own pace. Things happened. Real life. Oh, and I got a new job. But I'm gonna get through all of this, I WILL.
> 
> This prompt of "Epic Moments" was hard in the fact that there are SO MANY EPIC MOMENTS in One Piece. I couldn't decide.
> 
> So I instead wrote the epic moment I WANT and HOPE to see. 
> 
> Please enjoy! I hope it satisfies that craving in yourself like it did for me.

 

 

When backed into a corner, they chose to make a stand and their allies made it with them.

 

 _“We’re backed up against Reverse Mountain and hemmed in on both sides by the Red Line!”_ Brook remembered Nami snapping, swearing furiously as she gestured at the multitudes of parchment spread out across the table. She had been holding herself with a tight, agitated tension that felt like she would snap at any moment, and for good reason. According to the maps, their current end of the Grand Line was practically dripping with sinister red marks. _“If Vivi’s intelligence is correct then we’re practically surrounded. There aren’t any islands nearby that the Marines HAVEN’T set up shop on. And if that wasn’t enough, Akainu’s ‘clean-sweep’ operation has every pirate and criminal running this way and bringing their pursuers with them. Eventually, the Marines are gonna reach us here, and there’s nothing we can do about it because **we’re boxed in**!”_

 

The musician gazed over the shifting landscape of a dark, hungry ocean from along Sunny’s starboard railing. A light sprinkle was pelting down furiously from the tumultuous, pitch black clouds overhead, practically creating a mist everywhere they hit. Tensions ran high among everyone, and were made even heavier by the threatening sound of distant thunder. Below, the black waves were practically heaving, causing their ship (as well as the shadowy silhouettes of the other boats) to rock, bob, and sway. As if keeping their faithful ship in one place wasn’t difficult enough, the rough waters slicked the decks and made footing tricky and precarious. If Nami’s shouting was anything to go by, the weather and waters was only going to get worse. Fortunately, among the few things Brook was confident about, his experienced sea legs numbered as one of them. Even if they were now worn to the bone!

 

Skeletal hands folded over the handle of his cane, the musician did his best to focus on mentally preparing himself for battle rather than on the surrounding gloom. He didn’t like this darkness nor the quiet. Besides some shouting instructions that carried as lonely echoes across the water, there was just no noise. Everyone was facing the same direction, waiting and wound up and ready to fight. There was still the rumbling thunder, the slap of waves, and the creaking of wood and rope; all the little noises of a ship at sea. But those were sounds that Brook had listen to for 50 years in the Florian Triangle as he occupied the darkness by himself. Without any other noises to accompany them, they brought him no comfort.

 

It wasn’t long after they had landed on Raftel and discovered what One Piece was that it became obvious that the trouble in the New World was finally boiling over. The memory of the Marine announcement projected by their Proko Visual Den Den Mushi was still a stark and foreboding memory in Brook’s mind. As per usual, he had been standing in the back of room along with Franky. Being the two tallest, it was their usual position in order to let their smaller members view without trouble. But in that moment, Brook wished dearly that he _could_ block out the news broadcast that was being projected to every part of the world. He wished he could distract their small crew from the harsh image of Fleet Admiral’s rigid and glaring face with music and jokes and noise. However, it had been promised that this urgent breaking news would contain an important announcement to the world at large; least of which was the Marines finally acknowledging Luffy as the new Pirate King. They had needed to see, so they were all left to look on grimly.

 

 _“Straw Hat Luffy,”_ they watched Sakazuki lips curl in disgust, _“May call himself the Pirate King. But he is nothing more than a criminal whose rampage has gone on for far too long. He may have avoided us thus far by running like the coward he is, but there is nowhere he can run that I will not follow. This will not stand. We will wipe this pirate scum from the face of the Earth!”_

 

_Here, the Den Den Mushi zoomed in on Sakazuki’s face. This close, it looked like the man was staring right at them with hard, flinty eyes. In them was judgement and a dark, seething hatred that Brook could see boiling deep beneath a controlled veneer. When he spoke of them, of pirates and criminals in general, it was with deep-seated disgust and a severity that made the musician feel small. Even as the Fleet Admiral rumbled grimly, addressing the masses placatingly, it was still like he was addressing them._

 

_“And he will face absolute justice.”_

 

Just the memory was enough to cause a chill to creep down his spine. Here was a man with the absolute belief that they were less than human. He could scarcely believe that Luffy had faced such a man, though he knew his captain well. Of course, he faced off with one of the most dangerous men in the world! And Luffy had only become even stronger since, had come even further. But still...the very thought still had fear sinking into his marrow.

 

Facing off with the World Government again was a thing they all kind of knew was going to happen sooner or later, but not something they had really planned. After all, they were pirates, not Revolutionaries. At the end of the day, running was always an option. Well, as long as they were able to pull their more bloodthirsty, battle-hungry members away from a potential fight. In the end, what did they care about the politics of the world or the World Government’s fears? They had things to do, places to travel, people to meet, and dreams to fulfill.

 

But their captain was a D, the son of Dragon the Revolutionary, and now the King of the Pirates. They had Nico Robin, the Devil Child, who had revealed the history of the Void Century to the world. To get here, they had overthrown Kings, defeated Emperors, and (unwittingly) destabilized the powers that controlled the New World. According to her highness, Princess Vivi, an honorary member of the Straw Hats from before his own arrival, many countries were either indebted to or inspired by them. The World Government were not happy about the growing faction among their own ranks, and neither were they particularly pleased by the civil war brewing among the Marines.

 

The last time their captain had faced off with Akainu, his older brother had been killed by the magma man and Luffy nearly with him. No one in the crew talked about it, but Law had been very thorough in handing all the procedural and medical information to Chopper. So they all glanced over the mark on Luffy’s chest like it wasn’t there and _knew_. They knew and were scared, angry, terrified, and each carried some flavor of grudge because _Sakazuki had hurt one of their own, he had hurt **Luffy**. _ As the broadcast came to an end, protectiveness flooded up in Brook’s empty chest and throat until he could scarcely breathe (though he didn’t need to!). If he could, he would face off with the Red Dog himself if it would keep the Marine from hurting his captain and nakama, though the man would probably melt his bones and there would be no coming back from that.

 

When he met Zoro’s gaze, it was by instinct. In these kinds of situations where not even beautiful and competent Nami knew how to step around their captain, they all instinctively looked to their one-eyed swordsman. Though Brook had no muscle or skin on his face to convey an expression, the other man understood nevertheless. Neither had ever needed many words when it came to the other. Just as Zoro needed little to correctly interpret Brook’s tension (the way his fingers tightened around the handle of his cane, his eerie stillness and silence), Brook understood the negative response in Zoro’s pointed return stare and the tightness around his mouth. They both looked back to Luffy, who was staring grimly at the blank screen where Akainu’s face had been moments prior.

 

If it came down to it, the Fleet Admiral was Luffy’s opponent, his battle. They would not interfere unless it was completely necessary. That was just not their way.

 

With the broadcast came information and news about the largest and most extensive Marine operation in recorded history. To rid the New World of the plague known as pirates as a whole, Operation Solvent really wasn’t so much of an operation as much as an all out war. With that help of the allied maritime forces of individual countries, each major center of pirate activity was systematically invaded even as another force swept through the seas. Any criminal element the forces met were dealt with extreme prejudice and force, and said elements were driven even further into the New World or inland where island-bound Marines or Marine sympathetic forces were waiting for them. In pirate-friendly towns, every building was ransacked and all suspected pirates and pirate sympathizers were arrested or executed. Former Emperors’ centers of operations were put under heavy, heavy siege. Islands that rejected Marine operations on their lands for one reason or another were given similar, heavy-handed treatments. From one end of the Red Line to where the Straw Hats were currently anchored at the foot of the Reverse Mountain, Akainu’s forces were determinedly sweeping through the seas like a tidal wave.

 

When the first pirate ships landed near where they were anchored, they weren’t there to join the Straw Hats so much as they were fleeing. As it was, only the impeding fear of their arrival kept any real fights from breaking out among the refugee crews. As a whole, none of the Straw Hats particularly cared to interact with the other pirates aside from the rare, genuinely friendly groups or the occasional truly irritating pieces of shit they heard questioning Luffy’s legitimacy. Their captain didn’t care about what others whispered behind their back and could take on any real challengers to his crown himself, but they as a crew had come too far and had been through too much to tolerate any naysayers.

 

There had been (and still were) a number of crews who had claimed that their captain would be King. But _they_ were the ones who had been right and there was some pride in that. Besides. Better for them to discourage the ones _actually_ contemplating taking a swing at them or Luffy with just a few pointed shows of strength and cut off trouble before it really began. It was a heavy-handed approach on their part, but they were all pretty tense.

 

It was the arrival of the Straw Hat Fleet that really caused pirates and more criminally-versed individuals from every which way to start throwing in their lot with them. Luffy was not pleased with this at all, and it took a combination of all the Straw Hats (even a considering grunt from Zoro) to talk their captain around to at least tolerating the unfamiliar crews suddenly seeking their attention in the most annoying ways possible. Fortunately, Bartolomeo, Cavendish, the Happo Navy, and the others didn’t suffer the sudden swarms any better than Luffy did and closed ranks. As a result, Luffy was more often than not surrounded by allies and the Straw Hats didn’t have to fret as much about a rouge crew taking advantage of their captain’s gullible nature. This in turn allowed them room to maneuver around and gather information from the ever-increasing stream of refugees heading their way.

 

Before long, temporary shacks and tents were pitched. Docks and wharves were put together for easy access between ships and land. People of every shade of criminal mingled to trade stories, news, and to gamble. A basic code of conduct and an outline of agreed upon rules were set in order to keep the peace. The more people came, the more of an actual establishment it became as if to make up for all the centers of piracy that were lost and destroyed. Nobody knew where the name came from, but after a while, people started calling the gathering of temporary buildings “Kingstown”. And everywhere they went, the Straw Hats and their allies were given precedence (though some more reluctantly than others) as more and more ships and flags gathered.

 

Some flags were accompanied by familiar faces, others not so much. The self-proclaimed Straw Hat Fleet were at the forefront, followed closely by other friendly crews like the Foxy Pirates and the Whitebeard Remnants. Marco had already dropped by in a flurry of blue flames to congratulate Luffy with a warm smile, fondly recalling how Ace had always said that: Whitebeard would be King, but in the case the Old Man didn’t, then his little brother would be. Luffy had _shishishi-_ ed sheepishly, one finger rubbing under his nose in a happily embarrassed motion, and everyone had smiled at the heart warming scene.

 

Half a mile north from where the Sunny was currently bobbing was a barely visible, familiar, yellow submarine. Law had arrived a bit after the Remnant, stalking off his surfaced ship towards them like a large, predatory cat and all the indignant exasperation of one. The impression was furthered from the way he grumpily suffered through Luffy’s suffocating hug, scowling all the while, but letting Luffy cling for a few minutes before forcibly removing the younger captain.

 

Additionally, Eustass Kid’s mark was flapping half a mile south of where they were. With the amount of conflict between the Kid and Straw Hat Pirates, the redhead’s arrival was a surprise. But the man simply sneered at them, muttered about repaying a debt, and ranted about Marines and Fleet Admirals and Celestial Dragons that overstepped. After a while, they just accepted that the captain wanted Marine blood more than he wanted theirs.

 

However, things had nearly come to blows when Scratchmen Apoo and Basil Hawkins had arrived with their crews. It seemed like Kid hadn’t yet forgiven his former allies for abandoning him to Kaidou, and it took Luffy jumping in between the three and forcibly stopping three simultaneous attacks to keep blood from being shed. Reinforcing his action with Conqueror’s Haki, he subsequently dropped half of the gathered audience and startled everyone enough to get them to back off for a bit.

 

_“My readings do not lie,” Basil Hawkins explained in the self-assured, monotone manner that seemed to be normal for him. “Fate has shown me that my followers and I will be met by Akainu, and wiped out as a result. Even now, we are all carrying the shadow of death. However,” And here, he focused intently on Luffy, “Fate has always favored you, Straw Hat. If we are to survive, you may very well provide the best chance. If nothing else, seeing how this all unfolds will prove to be most interesting.”_

 

Pirates weren’t the only ones who traveled to join them. Brook had the honor of meeting Princess Nefeltari Vivi of Alabasta, who was introduced as an honorary Straw Hat. Such a sweet girl. When he had asked to see her panties, she simply giggled and gently refused before Nami cracked him in the skull. The blue-haired princess (once again in disguise) had arrived as a representative of the faction of countries currently protesting many of the World Government and Five Elder Stars’ decisions. It was all a very hush-hush, covert operation as the countries couldn’t openly oppose Akainu’s Government-approved operations. But as a former double agent, Vivi was up for the task.

 

It was amusing to see the more senior members of the crew interact with the young woman. The interesting part being the near complete lack of dissonance between them at all, and the princess dealt with all the new and old quirks with a mixture familiarity, tolerance, and a comradeship that only truly came from going through a trial together. Here was a young woman that only ever knew the Going Merry, the Straw Hat’s first brave, little ship that Brook only knew through dedicated storytelling and Mini Merry. As a result, she had to be given a tour of the Thousand Sunny and was visibly delighted by all the features. If not the initial tension between her and Robin, it would have felt like Vivi had always been part of the Straw Hat’s everyday landscape.

 

The men and women she brought along were dressed like sailors, but were unable to quite hide the way they stood and walked liked soldiers. The way some of the crews who followed later were the same way, and unable to not greet Vivi in a way too routine and too formal compared to an average pirate.

 

But Vivi and her army weren’t the only ones sailing under a false pirate flag.

 

Initially, they had overlooked many of the smaller, unknown crews as just more minor crews that they never paid attention to. Observation Haki didn’t alert them of any particular groups with focused, hostile intent so they were easy to skim over. It wasn’t until Jinbei had spotted Hack and Carrot had (quite literally) sniffed out Koala, both in heavy disguises, that they realized that the Revolutionaries were putting their stake in their fight as well. Even now, their captain’s older brother was riding a flock of crows, hidden against the background of dark storm clouds and only occasionally illuminated by flashes of lighting. And he wasn’t he only high-ranking Revolutionary in attendance. Evidently, some of the less subtle members of the shadowy group had also made an appearance.

 

From where Brook was standing, he could see Ivankov’s bright pink ship practically glowing in the dark.

 

_“Mmmfufufu~,” the purple-haired King laughed. Xe was smiling, but there was a dangerous and hard edge to the expression that had Sanji visibly grimacing with nerves. “If I hadn’t been there the last time Straw Hat-boyo went to war, he wouldn’t be alive today! As the new Pirate King, this will be the fight what determines the fate of the New Age-buru!”_

_“If Luffy gets hurt, that’s what Chopper and Torao are here for,” Sanji spat back resentfully._

_“Hhmmm, perhaps,” Ivankov shrugged, a grim trailing in his speech. “But perhaps I also have some personal scores to settle. And certainly, I’ve spent too much time keeping Straw Hat-boyo alive to let him accidentally die now-buru!”_

 

Akainu was coming at them with full force. With the increasing amount of support shown for the Straw Hats across the New World, as evident by the pictures and broadcasts shown of crowds (mostly of rougher looking men, but some citizens), wearing distinctively Straw Hat-esque decals and Luffy-like badges.

 

_“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU SOLD PEOPLE STRAW HAT SOUVENIRS?!” Nami stood over a cowering Bartolomeo. One could practically see the fangs and horns and fire raging in the background._

_“Honestly?” Sanji grunted as he casually whizzed around the kitchen and dining room. “I’m surprised you sold anything at all? Who’d buy that shit?”_

_“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!” Nami screeched. “THE POINT IS IF ANYONE SHOULD BE MAKING MONEY OFF STRAW HAT MERCHANDISE, IT SHOULD BE US!”_

_“I don’t think that’s the point either,” Usopp pointed out flatly._

_“Of course, we would never try to steal business from you, Nami-sama!” Bartolomeo flustered, waving his arms and blushing. “That’s why our accountant has already set aside 90% of the remaining proceedings for you to pick up when you’re ready.”_

_“Oh!” the Straw Hat navigator immediately returned back to normal (via. belli signs shining in her eyes), and smiled sweetly at the green-haired pirate. “Well in that case…what about 95%?”_

_“You have an accountant?” Usopp muttered incredulously._

_Plans were made and drawn out. Teams divvied up. Strategies discussed._

_“I got these copies of the Marineford plans while I was still a Warlord,” Law casually admitted, tapping the marked parchments spread across the large meeting table with a curled, tattooed finger. “It’s a sound strategy. If we play this right, we can turn it against them.”_

_“Are you an idiot,” Eustass Kid snarled. “The Red Dog isn’t an idiot, even if he spends half these days biting his own tail when it comes to the rest of the Seagull Asswipe Squad. He’ll see through this shit in an instant!”_

_“I did say if we did it **right** ,” the surgeon sneered back._

_“What about having multiple layers?” Sabo interrupted abruptly from his seat next to Luffy’s. “We have home advantage here. Time to set up traps,  the familiarity to rearrange the landscape to how we need it, the numbers to make this work.”_

_“Wouldn’t we need a bay for this plan of yours to work,” Capone growled._

_“We’re anchored in it,” Nami insisted. Taking a quill, she drew on the center map. “See the way these two capes turn inwards. It’s huge, and the weather isn’t any calmer, but this is essentially Reverse Mountain’s bay.”_

_“Of course, we’ll have to adjust the plan to take in account for the size of this bay, but if the numbers are what we think it is, it won’t be a problem.” Robin contributed. “The Marine’s main focus at that time was to filter the Whitebeard Pirates and their allies into one point, narrow how many could come in at a time and keep them from attacking from multiple fronts at once.”_

_“A formidable gathering of ships outside the bay,” Vivi suggested, the authoritative force in her voice effortlessly drawing the gathered individuals’ attention to her. “Not directly, too suspicious. But in multiple groups all around. If we make them feel like they’re herding us, they won’t realize until too late that we’ve drawn them into a trap.”_

_“And then we surround them and trap them in the bay,” Marco the Phoenix finished the thought process darkly. “But it won’t necessarily be enough._

_“Then put smaller traps in the big traps,” Luffy piped up. When everyone in the room simultaneously looked to the King, he swallowed his bite of meat and shrugged. “That’s what we did when we hunted tigers and bears. We had them chase one of us into a ravine and the other two would come at it from above. It was easier that way cause we were smaller and the tiger or bear couldn’t move around a lot. But if it was too strong we’d lead it deeper into the ravine where we had a pit or rock trap. We can do something like that, right? Except a whole bunch of them!”_

_“...That’s…a surprisingly dirty way of fight, Straw Hat,” Marco voiced most of the stunned leaders' thoughts._

_“We’re pirates,” Luffy stated simply, as if that explained everything._

_It did._

 

_“This…will need perfect coordination,” Law observed in a deadpan, “And absolute cooperation. Everyone here had better not screw up.”_

_“Speak for yourself, you creepy fuck,” Kid grunted back resentfully._

 

Lightning flashed, and the world was made black and white. Thunder boomed. And in those flashes of light, a line of bobbing shapes was highlighted like ghosts across the horizon. Among them, the shape of the World Government’s cross and the seagull insignia were stark and numerous.

 

The Marines had arrived.

 

* * *

 

 

It was like the time they had first entered the New World, dark and stormy with lightning coming from seemingly all directions. Like that, but then more like hell on earth.

 

Plans were made and drawn out. Teams divvied up. Strategies discussed.

 

But all Brook was aware of was that the distant storm they had heard was upon them and lightning curled in the sky. Those brief arcs of light in the sky and the splashes of fire reflecting on the sea’s surface from canon and the light from gun shots flashed off clashing blades. With the number of devil fruit users and strange weapons, there truly was light and fire of every shade lighting up the whole area. And magma boiled like a low-level, hellish lamp.

 

By this point, the group Brook was in should have drawn their pursuers past one of the capes, where another group hiding there would ambush the Marines. Any Navy reinforcements would be confronted by the groups hiding on the physical cape itself. Honestly though, Brook had no idea if they’d succeeded. At this point, it was just moving onto whatever ship was available and taking out anyone in a Marine uniform.

 

In short, it was chaos.

 

Brook momentarily braced himself as a midair Luffy punched Sakazuki, who glowed demonically red from where he had streamed into the sky. Just as the swordsman had instinctively known, the force of the collision created a crater in the sea and the sky, throwing water and dark clouds away from the epicenter. Taking advantage of his opponents stumbling and flailing (if they hadn’t straight up blown away), he flashed across the deck of the ship.

 

With a low hum and a _swish_ as he flicked the blood off his sword, he moved on as the low-leveled Marine lackies dropped like so many electrified insects. He had been a little slow there.

 

At this point, he didn’t even know what ship he was on besides that it wasn’t a Marine vessel. He needed to return to Sunny immediately. He had gotten separated when he had needed to jump onto one of the Marine ships to cut the winches that connected the chains trapping the Sunny and now he was lost. Dodging the scrambling Marines and cutting through the windlasses’, he jumped ship immediately when one of Zoro’s stray airborne strike cut through the warship he was standing on like a hot knife through butter. Scrambling across the top of the water in a flurry of movement, he’d immediately boarded the nearest ship and threw himself into the next fight. The rest was a blur of blades, blood, bullets, and chaos.

 

Ships were being led into the man-made coves they had created, each containing a trap designed by the assigned groups. Cliffs that gave way. Impossible to see underwater traps that would damage the sturdiest of hulls. Crevices where individuals could hide and rain hell from all angles. One particularly inventive group set up multiple different cove traps that showed creative uses of explosives and incendiaries. Hell, Law had even managed to create a labyrinth by carefully dropping parts of the mountain into the water. It was a work of art deep enough that it wouldn’t run any of the ships aground, but shallow enough that that any Marine submarines had to navigate the maze of Law’s making, or go over it and subsequently surface to waiting watchers.

 

Pain. Confusion. Desperation. Darkness that was only highlighted and made deeper by the flashes and flints and explosions of light around him.

 

Inhaling slowly, Brook pressed an examining finger to the crack running along his jaw. He would need to fix that, along with some of his missing teeth. A sudden explosion came as a luminous dust cloud came from the side of the mountain, higher above the fighting crowd. A huge clouding of boiling magma, reaching up after a swift figure bouncing through the air. An ominous rumble louder than even the thunder echoed through the sudden silence, before a sharp crack and a too-large _chunk_ of the mountain visibly gave way.

 

“THE MOUNTAIN’S FALLING!” someone screamed, and the cry was quickly taken up by pirate, soldier, and Marine alike.

 

“REVERSE MOUNTAIN IS COMING DOOOWWWNNN!”

 

Brook couldn’t tell you the details of what happened after that besides the fact that the mountain did come down. A shadowy bemeoth that loomed over them even in the gloom of the storm, coming down at them. It was like the sky had someone turned to heated earth and was falling down. It just dominated everyone’s entire vision. He would later vaguely remember feeling large, metal hands grab him and dragging him back onto the Sunny with the sharp snap and clinking whirl of chains.

 

“ _EVERYBODY TIE YOURSELF TO THE SHIP!”_ Nami screamed from the wheel

 

If he thought it was chaos before, then there were simply no words for it now.

 

* * *

 

 

There was no bay by the time things calmed a little. The landscape had changed completely. As far as the eye could see, it was a chaotic checkerboard of steaming new land and sandbars, small islands of wreckage, water, and corpses. And Reverse Mountain…

 

“Oh my seas…,” Nami’s voice was soft from the sheer shock. “Oh my seas, it’s gone. Reverse Mountain is _gone._ ”

 

It wasn’t truly gone. But the jagged stone cliffs and towers rising from the sea were NOTHING in size compared to the original mountain. And the seas were even rougher than before, pulling and pushing and jerking all the ships around haphazardly at a moment’s notice.

 

And still, the storm above them continued to rage.

 

Peeling himself from the deck, Brook quickly looked around and could almost laugh. Somehow, someway, every Straw Hat was accounted for. From Nami at the wheel to Jinbe holding onto Princess Vivi protectively to Zoro holding onto both a completely limp Luffy and a drenched Chopper tucked into his haramaki, they were all here.

 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he heard Franky snarl in disbelief.

 

When he turned to see what their ship-builder meant, his heart sank.

 

He didn’t even have a heart.

 

Most of the Navy was wiped out, but the ones that remained gathered into a tight and predatory formation.

 

“Who’s left?!” Nami instantly started to take account of their own allies even as she lunged for the rapidly spinning wheel.

 

“I don’t know,” Sanji replied grimly. “Kid’s over there. I can’t see where Torao’s sub went…And I can’t spot that stupid Okama…”

 

“I can see the Happo Navy from here,” Vivi reported. “And at least three dozen of the people I brought. That’s…1/21 of the original force.”

 

“Does anyone know where Luffy’s brother is?” Chopper piped up in an urgent, shaky voice. Everyone exchanged nervous glances as their captain took the time to be completely out of it.

 

“I think the important question,” Zoro growled, “Is where’s that damn Dog?”

 

That question seemed to wake Luffy. Jerking up rom Zoro’s grasp, he quickly got onto his feet and immediately started to dazedly but determinedly look over the new landscape searchingly.

 

“Grrrrr,” Luffy growled huffingly. Panting and shaking, he glared at the gathering of Marine ships. “That guy ran.”

 

“Unbelievable…,” Jinbei murmured in shock. “That Akainu ran…?!”

 

“Hmmm,” Robin hummed. “Probably not like that. He _is_ a Magma Magma Human, after all. He has a peculiar infinity to both fire and earth. The destruction was probably due to a combination of effects caused by multiple Fruit Users. However, he would have been one of the first to sense Revere Mountain’s fall. Instead of continuing to fight Luffy, he chose to protect what he could of his forces. That’s why we see so many of their numbers remain. It must have been hard…being forced to even temporarily have to let go of his prey. D’s really do have the Devil’s Luck.”

 

“I finished counting and analyzing the state of the ships we have left,” Franky contributed grimly. “We’re outnumbered and they’re in better shape than us. Not to mention we’re now scattered everywhere and they’re already back in formation. If we don’t do something, they’ll pick us off as easy prey.”

 

“Nami!” Zoro barked urgently. “The currents are really fucking weird right now! Can you do anything with them?”

 

Their navigator shook her head frantically, real fear showing in her eyes as she struggled with the wheel.

 

“I can’t! I can barely even keep us upright right now! Without Reverse Mountain you have all four seas, the calm belt, and the water from both the Grand Line and New World meeting all at once. The storm under our ship is worse than the caldera of the Gianara Waterfalls!

 

“Then there’s no other choice,” Luffy concluded flatly, seemingly now more steady and grimly determined. Everyone who heard braced themselves expectantly, resolutely preparing themselves for what they knew would be their captain’s decision. “Nami, stay at the wheel! We’ll take care of this! Chopper! Brook! Stay with her! Everyone else,” he rested a hand on top of his hat and pushed it down more firmly, casting an ominous shadow over his face as he ordered, “Get ready!”

 

Brook readjusted his grip on his cane sword. In the rush, he had unfortunately lost the sheath and therefore most of his cane. But a swordsman will always a remain a swordsman, and he never let go of his blade. Zoro pulled Chopper out of his haramki and set him down on the deck so that their doctor could quickly look their captain over before the fighting restarted. Sanji lit another cigarette and took a long drag while Franky seemed to quick assess the damages to his own machinery. Jinbe had joined briefly joined Nami, helping her wrestle with the wheel. And in unusual shows of exhaustion, Carrot bounced on her toes and muttered to herself as Robin gently and methodically stretched her fingers, wrists, and arms.

 

Usopp had been busily fidgeting with his ammo and rearranging his pack when he suddenly froze. At the same time, Luffy suddenly straightened from where Chopper was helping him and focused intensely to their right, towards the east.

 

“What the hell is that noise…?” their sniper wondered out loud.

 

At this inquiry, all the others took a moment to listen as well. Initially, they heard nothing but the chaotically and strangely unrhythmical slap of the waters against Sunny’s hull. But then, just curling at the edge of their hearing, a soft sound caught them by their ear and the noise resonated and curled in their throats like a solid thing.

 

Deep and echoing wails, accompanied by higher, haunting squeaks. It sounded like ghosts trapped in a storm.

 

Then, on the horizon…

 

At first, it looked like the ocean was bubbling. Not the tiny, little, frothing bubbles, but mountain-sized growths that bubbled out of the sea like some monstrous creature from the depths of the darkest ocean crevice that would put all Sea Kings to shame. And that bubbling horizon was getting closer. A few moments later, the shout came.

 

Brook abruptly realized what it was and was rendered speechless. He had never seen such a sight himself, but he had always imagined. Had tried to imagine it since a time he still had skin and organs and a crew who was more orchestra than pirate force. Back then, they had a little crew mate that was too big for their ship, but they loved him all the same. Poor child had been separated from his own family, but they never could figure out how to get him back with another pod so he would never be lonely.

 

“ISLAND WHALES!” someone’s yell echoed across the water. “ _FUCK!_ ISLAND WHALE POD, HO!”

 

They hadn’t seen each other in years. Brook would have no way of knowing. Nevertheless, he knew. Just looking at the approaching, bobbing, dark hills, he knew. Nostalgia, happiness, hope, fear, and grief. So much grief. But more than anything, it was relief that clutched his nonexistent heart and made tears fall from his eyes because _Brook knew_. He knew the last member of his old crew was coming as surely as he knew the way winds blow and the seas ride and the sounds of a violin.

 

“Ugh….uhhh…,” Brook choked, only a stammering noise catching in his throat as he stared in wonder. Shaking hands rose to press the heels against the corners of his eye sockets.

 

In the flashes of lightning and the continued chaos of their war, Brook could see that the enormous, mountain-sized whale in the front had a nearly indistinguishable mark of the Straw Hats liberally painted across its nose and head. It covered so many, many scars. It looked only vaguely like the cute, little whale from decades ago, but it was definitely him. The same feel, the same almost speech-like sing-song (though in a much deeper and lower note now).

 

Tears ran out of his empty sockets and down his literal cheekbones. Snot flowed of where his nose once was and over his teeth. 

 

In this storm (this chaos, this war), that had caused one of the most pivotal parts of their world to fall, Brook felt so _alive_. In this moment as the sea tossed and the rain fell and the lightning flashed and people died, he felt like he was on top of the world. Brook screamed into the wind, arms thrown wide as he couldn’t help but sob.

 

_**“LABOOOOOOOONNNN!!!”** _

 

With a challenging and exhilarated bellow, Laboon led the charge of Island Whales and crashed into the side of the gathered Marine fleet. It was something both fascinating and horrifying as giant war galleys were swallowed under the huge creatures.

 

When backed into a corner, they chose to make a stand.

 

Their allies made it with them.

**Author's Note:**

> Meanwhile, with the Marines:
> 
> “Are you FUCKING _kidding me_?!” one soldier screamed indignantly. “Are you telling me there’s a Straw Hat WHALE?!”
> 
>  
> 
> Yes. Yes there is! >8D
> 
> You got it! The epic moment I want to see is: Brook and Laboon's reunion with Laboon saving the day. He's a ISLAND _WHALE_. Seeing something that big sweep in to save the day would be AWESOME!
> 
> [Tumblr](https://jflicker.tumblr.com/)


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